In the early twentieth century, the United Daughters of the Confederacy exercised a great deal of control over how African-American history was taught and remembered (if at all) throughout much of the country.
I am not a Confederate supporter, I am a northerner. That being said, I am completely against tearing down (any) of our Confederate monuments. If you erase your history you are bound to repeated. We even need monuments to the ugly part of our history.
Monuments are not works of history, they are symbols of memory. Removing a monument doesn't erase history in the slightest. What does represent is what communities choose to remember and celebrate. Monuments come down and go up all the time around the world.
Re "I think Woodson would be thrilled by the incredible amount of Black history that is now available and that continues to shape our understanding of this nation":
I'll bet that's right. And as to "new monuments that are gradually redefining our public spaces," I hope to see acceleration of national esteem and recognition for the hundreds of thousands of Civil War slavery escapees who figured centrally in emancipation's evolution. They're among the most American of Americans.
In a June 2020 Washington Post op-ed, David Blight called for an “epic process” of replacing Confederate symbols with “memorialization of emancipation.” He's not an enthusiastic advocate of what James M. McPherson calls some scholars' "self-emancipation thesis" for explaining emancipation's evolution, but two weeks later in the New York Times, Blight wrote that freedom “remains humanity’s most universal aspiration. How America reimagines its memorial landscape may matter to the whole world.”
It will certainly matter to the whole world if the de facto Lost Causer in the White House somehow prevails in reimposing grotesque national nostalgia for systemic crimes against humanity.
I am reminded that back in 2017, two Republican state legislators in South Carolina proposed a monument to celebrate the Confederacy's Black Confederates. The proposal went nowhere. Seven years later and the state is getting set to dedicate a new monument in honor of Robert Smalls on the very same ground.
This is great. I have decided that for a time in February I am focusing my Substack articles on Black history to push back against the attempts of the Trump administration to erase Black history from our memory. These people are fearful and potentially violent.
Keep up your work. I always share it on other venues and with friends.
Thanks, Steven. I want to make it clear that I don't believe that erasing Black history is remotely possible. Certainly, the federal government can impact certain projects through the cutting off of funding, etc. but the fact that they are making such a big stink about it is itself evidence of just how far we've come.
Edgerton's still around, but I think he travels a lot less than before. Maybe he's not getting the paying gigs he used to.
But he's still at it, just today threatening to sue Facebook because they took down a video of him marching in Confederate uniform in a Christmas parade in Zephyrhills, Florida, and soliciting his followers to send money to his old buddy Kirk Lyons to fund it. It never ends with these people.
I didn't think he was at the point of retirement, but as you suggest I don't get the sense that he is as visible compared to ten years ago. BLM provided the perfect stage for the SCV and Lyons to trot him out to advance their agenda. From what I've seen, he has definitely aged. Than again, haven't we all. LOL
Excellently done. I'm very concerned about the current destructive mood against Black History Month as well as media like PBS and NPR which have in various ways and at various times provided badly needed unvarnished looks at the enslaved experience. In essence, the Trump administration is echoing Lost Cause proponents. One of the lesser known stories from mid-nineteenth-century, I would add, is that Black body servants also accompanied their "owners" into the U.S.-Mexican War, a war driven in part by racialist ideologies regarding Latino peoples.
Great to hear from you, Robert. I am concerned as well and I suspect that PBS, NPR and other media organizations with federal ties will be impacted in the not too distant future.
I ran across a number of stories of body servants accompanying their masters to war in Mexico as I researched my Black Confederates book. Of course, you don't hear about them as much because they don't do the same work for the Lost Cause crowd.
I make it a point to ride out to New Canton, VA, at least once a year. While I wish there were more celebration of Woodson’s birthplace, it’s nice to see some memorialization.
Wow! Thanks so much as always for your work and writing!!
If I may, I wanted to share an experience I recently had while on a research trip to Knoxville, TN. I was visiting an archive and speaking to the archivist who worked there and I can't exactly remember the context that it came up in but the person told me "Oh no, see Knoxville is a unique place. During the Civil War, we were part of the Union." And in response, I said, "I've seen a lot of Confederate monuments around here. Do you know why there are so many?" Part of my research does include looking at the historical memory of Knoxville. I'll be honest the archivist got upset and had nothing to say. This was my second trip there and during my first trip I located many of these monuments and there are many!! I've noticed during the Civil Rights era there are newspapers celebrating Knoxville's early integration efforts but others printed at the same time declaring Knoxville did not want integration. It's interesting. (Sorry for such a long comment)
Thanks so much for this comment. Kentucky's Civil War memory is really interesting and complex. I am sure you are familiar with it, but Anne Marshall's book, *Creating a Confederate Kentucky* helped me to sort a lot of this out. https://uncpress.org/book/9781469609836/creating-a-confederate-kentucky/
I am not a Confederate supporter, I am a northerner. That being said, I am completely against tearing down (any) of our Confederate monuments. If you erase your history you are bound to repeated. We even need monuments to the ugly part of our history.
Monuments are not works of history, they are symbols of memory. Removing a monument doesn't erase history in the slightest. What does represent is what communities choose to remember and celebrate. Monuments come down and go up all the time around the world.
Re "I think Woodson would be thrilled by the incredible amount of Black history that is now available and that continues to shape our understanding of this nation":
I'll bet that's right. And as to "new monuments that are gradually redefining our public spaces," I hope to see acceleration of national esteem and recognition for the hundreds of thousands of Civil War slavery escapees who figured centrally in emancipation's evolution. They're among the most American of Americans.
In a June 2020 Washington Post op-ed, David Blight called for an “epic process” of replacing Confederate symbols with “memorialization of emancipation.” He's not an enthusiastic advocate of what James M. McPherson calls some scholars' "self-emancipation thesis" for explaining emancipation's evolution, but two weeks later in the New York Times, Blight wrote that freedom “remains humanity’s most universal aspiration. How America reimagines its memorial landscape may matter to the whole world.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/25/yes-freedmens-memorial-uses-racist-imagery-dont-tear-it-down/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/opinion/monuments-history-biden.html
It will certainly matter to the whole world if the de facto Lost Causer in the White House somehow prevails in reimposing grotesque national nostalgia for systemic crimes against humanity.
I am reminded that back in 2017, two Republican state legislators in South Carolina proposed a monument to celebrate the Confederacy's Black Confederates. The proposal went nowhere. Seven years later and the state is getting set to dedicate a new monument in honor of Robert Smalls on the very same ground.
Even in South Carolina. :-)
Kevin,
This is great. I have decided that for a time in February I am focusing my Substack articles on Black history to push back against the attempts of the Trump administration to erase Black history from our memory. These people are fearful and potentially violent.
Keep up your work. I always share it on other venues and with friends.
Resistance is not futile.
Peace and watch your six,
Steve Dundas
Thanks, Steven. I want to make it clear that I don't believe that erasing Black history is remotely possible. Certainly, the federal government can impact certain projects through the cutting off of funding, etc. but the fact that they are making such a big stink about it is itself evidence of just how far we've come.
Edgerton's still around, but I think he travels a lot less than before. Maybe he's not getting the paying gigs he used to.
But he's still at it, just today threatening to sue Facebook because they took down a video of him marching in Confederate uniform in a Christmas parade in Zephyrhills, Florida, and soliciting his followers to send money to his old buddy Kirk Lyons to fund it. It never ends with these people.
I didn't think he was at the point of retirement, but as you suggest I don't get the sense that he is as visible compared to ten years ago. BLM provided the perfect stage for the SCV and Lyons to trot him out to advance their agenda. From what I've seen, he has definitely aged. Than again, haven't we all. LOL
Excellently done. I'm very concerned about the current destructive mood against Black History Month as well as media like PBS and NPR which have in various ways and at various times provided badly needed unvarnished looks at the enslaved experience. In essence, the Trump administration is echoing Lost Cause proponents. One of the lesser known stories from mid-nineteenth-century, I would add, is that Black body servants also accompanied their "owners" into the U.S.-Mexican War, a war driven in part by racialist ideologies regarding Latino peoples.
Great to hear from you, Robert. I am concerned as well and I suspect that PBS, NPR and other media organizations with federal ties will be impacted in the not too distant future.
I ran across a number of stories of body servants accompanying their masters to war in Mexico as I researched my Black Confederates book. Of course, you don't hear about them as much because they don't do the same work for the Lost Cause crowd.
Same here. All the best with your work.
Thanks for this article.
I make it a point to ride out to New Canton, VA, at least once a year. While I wish there were more celebration of Woodson’s birthplace, it’s nice to see some memorialization.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/mojohand/7Lb3fN0B8i
I am sorry to say that I never made it to New Canton while I lived in Virginia.
Wow! Thanks so much as always for your work and writing!!
If I may, I wanted to share an experience I recently had while on a research trip to Knoxville, TN. I was visiting an archive and speaking to the archivist who worked there and I can't exactly remember the context that it came up in but the person told me "Oh no, see Knoxville is a unique place. During the Civil War, we were part of the Union." And in response, I said, "I've seen a lot of Confederate monuments around here. Do you know why there are so many?" Part of my research does include looking at the historical memory of Knoxville. I'll be honest the archivist got upset and had nothing to say. This was my second trip there and during my first trip I located many of these monuments and there are many!! I've noticed during the Civil Rights era there are newspapers celebrating Knoxville's early integration efforts but others printed at the same time declaring Knoxville did not want integration. It's interesting. (Sorry for such a long comment)
Hi Casandra,
Thanks so much for this comment. Kentucky's Civil War memory is really interesting and complex. I am sure you are familiar with it, but Anne Marshall's book, *Creating a Confederate Kentucky* helped me to sort a lot of this out. https://uncpress.org/book/9781469609836/creating-a-confederate-kentucky/